feeling sad - the end of Christmas!

After two weeks of family fun it all ends tomorrow. I am a total Christmas addict - love everything about the Christmas period and we have had a fantastic time. But DH goes back to work tomorrow and the rellies leave as well. I will have the DC x 2 to keep me busy but also a real sense that these are the tail end days of the best time of the year. I could cry which is a bit pathetic really!!

How do you make the aftermath fun? I need to stop tomorrow becoming a sad end to the festivities - it all flew by so fast. Will be nice to get the house back I suppose but we had so much fun preparing, planning and getting excited that I feel a bit lost.

We are off to the English seaside for 4 nights tomorrow (DD goes back to school on the 8th) and it really feels like an extra chance to be Christmassy all over again. And my birthday is in January so I quite like this time of year

i feel the same i always do. just tomorrow really then its just a normal weekend. its built up so much but really its just one day and its over so quick. Dp has been on a downer since last night and i am worried he thinks we have run our course (22 years and 9yo dd). He's not happy and i think we need to have "the talk". i'm not brave enough though. It's a shame. i do love him.

Oh lem Maybe there's something else at the root of it and he's having trouble talking about it?

We've got a weird post-Xmas weekend coming up - we'll be taking the decorations down tomorrow so that our visitors' daft spaniel doesn't eat any and there's room in the sitting room for them to stay over (sofabed), but then cooking a full turkey roast with all the trimmings for Saturday's lunch (long story involving Waitrose deliveries and misplaced poultry). I try and have a rearrange when the decorations come down and pick up a new ornament or similar in the sales so that the space still looks fresh and cheerful. Can't beat the smell of tinsel though...

I get flat after the Christmas fun too. Bit different this year as couldn't really decorate due to building work, took tree down on Tuesday. I absolutely love the build up to Christmas, all the lights coming on, the shopping and wrapping, the planning, the music, the baking, the panto, the films, the general sense of excitement. It does feel like such a downer when it's all over....

Have had a lovely day today, pootling about with dh and the kids, I actually wish we could just live like this all the time, no school or work, just long walks, reading, cinema, nice meals together, drawing and playing. Sigh. I suppose it would get boring eventually.

I think I just need to get early January out the way and then my mood will lift....lots of things to look forward to this year.

Nice to know it's not just me then! But it is hard, isn't it. I think the energy with which we all prepared and planned makes everything seem a much bigger deal. Plus the dark days and excessive weight gain on my part - oops

Lemiss - I hope things are okay. Maybe DP is also just a bit down in the dumps.

I think I need to make plans. We have friends to see, DIY to do, and plenty of fun things around to enjoy. I like the idea of filling gaps with something pretty once the decorations are down. I often keep candles burning at the table because it has been nice to have them there in advent and over Christmas. I might treat myself tomorrow....

I agree, this Christmas has been one of our most fun due to the ages of the DC. As usual, I have left all my school work ( prep and marking) till to yo day so I will be working on the last day of the hols! I always set out with good intentions to clear it before Christmas but it never works! Hopefully the DCs will play and let me have some peace.

I try to make sure I give my boys a Christmas present that we can do as an activity once the Christmas tree comes down. This year they got plant pots to paint and bulbs for January, and a propagator compost and seeds for a Bit later. All bought really cheaply when wilkinson has their sale at the end of summer.

I used to be obsessed with planning and felt really flat after christmas. Now I still love the planning but make sure I enjoy doing the planning. So I'm doing something I love that is not just for the sake of one day. I'm not really explaining very well! One example is that I have bought a set of 5 wooden drawers each for my children. I am going to paint them ready for next christmas and fill them with arts and craft supplies.

They will have a large personalised gift each that will be useful and full of things they can use over the next year. It will just happen to be given to them at christmas. Maybe you could spend some time thinking of a similar project that you can enjoy planning and your children will be using all year.

Glad I'm not the only one feeling like this - all back to school & work next week after two weeks off and it's been lovely. I hate the thought of getting up in the cold and dark next week .

Also don't want to take the decorations down yet so will wait till 12th night. But even then I'm thinking I may leave some of the fairy lights up around windows, the fireplace, etc, just because I love them. Is that sad?

I think fairy lights look lovely and I'm tempted to keep some up myself. But would I regret it when christmas comes again and they're already there? Maybe keep them up for winter, take them down in February half term? As I said up thread, I don't feel flat after Xmas as we always try to go away for at least 2 nights after new year and my birthday is later in January (already planned and booked). I also think it's important to stretch things out and enjoy "Christmastime" as well as those few days and have a combo of outings, staying in together, having visitors, going to friends etc. it helps that DD has nearly a month off school and it means I have to concentrate my donkey work and get the tedious stuff done or well organised. Also helps that I don't do any cooking in our house (DH is a great cook TG) so maybe that makes it less intense?

We have a final celebration on 6 Jan. Take decorations down, make house nice, then have one last slap-up meal. It's our Twelfth Night meal. Nothing complicated - just whatever we really fancy eating, complete with crackers, candles etc.

It gives me us something to look forward to. And to be honest, by the 6th, they are almost always back at school and the routine kind of takes over at that point anyway.

It does feel so sad when I think that two weeks ago now school had just finished and DH had just started his Christmas holiday, and that he went back today and the decs come down tomorrow. Contemplated leaving them until twelfth night but taking them down in an empty house two weeks on from Christmas eve eve was just too depressing

However, I have decided that we will be doing Easter in a similar way to Christmas - lots of nice food, a few decs, champagne, a couple of small presents for DD and DH and a proper roast dinner. Going to make Easter Monday like an Easter 'boxing day' too. DH is off for the week so it'll be really lovely. The thought of that is giving me something to really look forward to and start planning in a month or so!

Oh and re fairy lights, we have lots up all year - clear ones on the mantelpiece and over the lounge window and green ones in the kitchen - and they look lovely. Doesn't spoil them for Christmas at all - we just put hundreds more up!

Oooer, don't know if I could cope with the Countdowners thread as I don't usually do any Xmas stuff until after my DSis's birthday on 25th November, I may lurk! And I may keep up some fairy lights as they are lovely and, as some of you have said, you can always add more. I don't think you can have too many. I have been describing my methods to friends as "the Dolly Parton school of decorating", it took a lot of time and money to look that cheap. I do go over the top, going to tone it down next Xmas

I plan Walks, meals, holidays, goals for the year. I like putting the house in order. I plot annual get togethers. I go to bed earlier. I plan meals. I look after the house (come april I tend to live outside, pretty much neglecting any house maintenance). I buy cards and presents for birthdays. I surprise a friend a month with something nice and out of the blue, such as a book, bake some bread etc. I am plotting some voluntary work. I love january.

I love the build up too, so much going on and all the excitement. January is very flat, but I keep thinking that now the weather may slightly improve and the days will begin to get longer and lighter. Plus as much as I've enjoyed dc's being on holidays, they need to get back into some sort of routine

I make a big deal of Easter so looking forward to that. And spring is always lovely!! I may even tackle the garden.

lots of lovely ideas here - and good common sense too! I plan a twelfth night meal with a pie I saw Mary Berry make on television - puff pastry and almonds and marzipan. We might as well go out with a bang. Plus I will borrow the idea that this meal is eaten in a cleaned and tidied house with all the decorations away and a new candle table centre for the rest of winter. After that, we will enjoy the new toys, and crafts etc, and plan some nice social events for the coming weeks. I fear that I just like planning a bit too much